Bare-faced chic

Some of the most influential figures in fashion are now forgoing make-up altogether. But why? And what does that mean for the rest of us?

BY Suzi Boyle |
18 April 2011

Phoebe Philo Photo: GETTY IMAGES; WIRE IMAGE

Franca Sozzani Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Katie Grand Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Anna Dello Russo Photo: GETTUY IMAGES

Kate Phelan Photo: REX FEATURES

Caryn Franklin Photo: REX FEATURES

You'd never know it from the glossy magazine pages - full of lacquered look-at-me lips and sultry charcoal eyes - but behind the scenes women in the fashion industry are increasingly forgoing make-up and going - whisper it - au naturel.

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From the likes of Franca 'fresh-faced' Sozzani, the editor of Italian
Vogue
, to the unglossed pout of the fashion icon Anna Dello Russo and the clean, razor-sharp cheekbones of the designer Phoebe Philo, bare-faced beauty is definitely in. And so to cohort with the truly chic it seems you need to grab yourself a good cleanser.

Other make-up-free followers include Tammy Kane, the 32-year-old sister and business partner of the fashion designer Christoper, the
Vogue
stylist Kate Phelan and the journalist and influential stylist Katie Grand. As the editor-in-chief of
Love
magazine, Grand could doubtless have the pick of beauty products and the best make-up artists to sculpt her a high-definition complexion before her daily power meetings, and yet she uses no make-up or cosmetics on her face whatsoever. 'If I were on TV I'd worry a lot more, but since I'm not it's not something I ever have to think about,' she says. For her going make-up-less is 'a practical decision' (she suffers from allergic reactions), but as someone on whom Miuccia Prada calls for style advice surely she must sometimes feel a certain pressure to glam up? 'I really never think about it at all,' she insists, quashing any illusions of
Ugly Betty
-style competitiveness and cat-fighting. 'Sorry if that sounds a bit dull!'

In fact, a meeting with Prada might be the very occasion to down beauty tools. Leading members of the Italian fashion industry really appear to be more about the clothes than the cosmetics. Neither the aforementioned Franca Sozzani nor her sister Carla - the owner of the ultra-cool Milanese emporium 10 Corso Como (which also sells state-of-the-art make-up brands) - wear a hint of make-up.

It is perhaps strange that women who rely on advertising revenue from cosmetics companies and who are in the business of promoting images of physical perfection should themselves opt for low-maintenance beauty regimes. But you have to admit that it's also rather nonchalantly chic. The British actress Tilda Swinton, who wears the most directional of clothing by the likes of Viktor & Rolf, always appears on the red carpet with an entirely bare face, an act of admirable self-confidence.

Women's reasons for opting out tend to differ. In an interview with the Telegraph last year, Gucci Westman, the make-up artist and global artistic director of Revlon, admitted to feeling self-conscious when wearing make-up. Ironically, she said that she feared it might make her look less serious about her craft. 'I feel as if someone like [the photographer] Annie Leibovitz would look at me funny,' she said. Westman recommends that women avoid applying foundation all over their faces if they want a more naturally beautiful look.

Victoria Tydeman, who co-founded Steamcream, a new cleanser made in Britain from locally sourced, natural products, stopped wearing make-up when she entered the skincare profession. 'The more I got to know about ingredients, the more I became really aware about what I was putting on my skin,' she says. Tydeman draws parallels between the beauty and food industries. 'Watching what you put on your face is absolutely as important as watching what you eat,' she says. 'I remember stumbling upon a study that proved that eating lipstick would be better for you than putting it on your lips. That way you at least have the digestive enzymes to help absorb it.'

In America the trend has become political, with the Makeup-Free Mondays movement gaining momentum. Started in New York by Alexis Wolfer, the editor-in-chief of the Beauty Bean website, it has attracted the attention of both CNN and Oprah Winfrey's show.

Wolfer says that the idea sprang from an interview she read with Cindy Crawford in which the supermodel said something along the lines of, 'I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.' 'That always stuck with me,' says Wolfer. 'Even the celebrities and models in our magazines don't really look like that. I deeply understand and value the power that make-up has to empower women and boost self-esteem. But many women believe their faces aren't "complete" , "finished" or "pretty" without make-up. It's not that I want women to feel uncomfortable in make-up again, but I do want them to feel comfortable without it, too.'

Like those who claim to be effortlessly thin, the 'naturally beautiful' can elicit a certain reaction from other women. Gagging. Eye-rolling. 'We've had lots negative comments,' says Wolfer. 'But I was prepared for that. I wanted to get people talking and thinking about what beauty really is.'

The fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who helped establish the careers of supermodels such as Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, is known and celebrated for shooting his subjects with a naturalistic look but nevertheless doesn't approve of these developments. 'I'm not at all against make-up and I do not like the idea of a new make-up-free brigade,' he says. 'Make-up can be very interesting. I'm against too much [photographic] retouching, that is all.'

Yet there's no doubt that change is afoot. Thanks perhaps to the predominance of those soulful 'because you're worth it' style beauty campaigns in the past decade, a successful woman who admits to doing little in the way of artifice is seen as refreshing and is considered immensely likeable. Most television presenters would probably rather die than brave the cruel light of high definition without industrial-strength cover, but not Caryn Franklin, the producer of the television show
How t
o Look Good and presenter of Clothes Show Live. 'I've really honed it down now to concealer by Ariane Poole and lip pencil by the Body Shop,' she says. 'I don't buy any of the forgery that passes for beauty advertising. I expect my routines to be quick and functional. I don't ask for magic.'

While a herbal lip-balm will probably never have the same sex appeal as Chanel Rouge, interest in natural products has been growing. The wellbeing website
glowgetter.co.uk
reports an increase in traffic of 70 per cent year on year. Some women are finding treatments that will lend skin the even tone and dewy finish one aims for with the best foundation - acupuncture facials, even hypnotherapy CDs that promise anti-ageing effects. Prior to her engagement photos, Kate Middleton reportedly chose a more conventional beauty treatment and booked in with Julie Cichocki, the global treatment director of Karin Herzog facials, whose products use a mixture of oxygen and vitamins to give skin a natural glow. 'All of my clients want to be able to use less coverage,' she explains. 'High maintenance has a really bad reputation now. Victoria Beckham doesn't do spray tans anymore.

'As we get older our body is less able to absorb the vitamins that we ingest,' Cichocki continues. 'Treating this with the right skincare means you honestly won't need Botox or layers of coverage. It's all about the no-trace face.'

Dr Aamer Khan, of the Harley Street Clinic, whose vitamin-infusion treatments administered by syringe start at £600,elaborates: 'People who have them claim to have healthier, younger skin, hair and eyes. By injecting a cocktail of vitamins directly to the blood you give the support that is needed to feel healthy and young.'

In a climate where the cosmetics industry loves to promote inauthenticity - the 'false lash' effect mascara, 'air brush' foundation, 'youth' in a bottle - the women who go make-up free are bucking the trend. Call it bare-faced cheek, if you like, but these are fashion leaders, so be warned: where they go, we all eventually follow.